The occupancy rate at Burj Dubai may reach 75 percent this year, with office leasing proving the biggest challenge for investors, said Roy Cherry, an analyst at investment bank Shuaa Capital PSC. While mainly residential, the 160-story tower will include 37 floors of office and retail space.

âThose who bought with the intention of leasing will face a difficult time, because few companies today can justify paying premiums for luxury,â Cherry said.

50 years and all of these arab countries will be back to riding camels in the desert. Instead of humping imported east european prostitutes, they'll be humping sheep.

The Germans and the Chinese are rapidly accelerating alternative energy technologies. In fact the Chinese are now leaders in some solar cell technologies. They don't have domestic enemies like we do here to slow them down.

By the time tallest buildings are completed, the business cycle usually reached its top locally:

" In 1999 the research director at investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein invented something called the "Skyscraper index", arguing that the construction of super-tall buildings is often a sign that an economic downturn is on the way. The best example is the late 1920s, which saw an unprecedented skyscraper boom prior to the Great Depression. The Empire State Building, which was finished in 1929, didn't achieve full occupancy for 40 years. Other examples include the Sears Tower in Chicago, finished in time for the Oil Crisis of 1974, and the Petronas Towers in Malaysia, which appeared after the Malaysian stockmarket went down the plughole in 1997. By the time Canary Wharf was finished in 1991, the London commercial property market was in recession;"

I see you have found the most irrelevant part of the story, good for you. The relevant part was that based on history and architecture it would be very wise to avoid investing in Dubai for a while.. There, you have it....

We could add the Freedom Tower to the list:

"Construction on below-ground utility relocations, footings, and foundations for the 1,776-foot (541m) building began on April 27, 2006....When completed, 1 World Trade Center will be among the tallest buildings in the world and the tallest in the United States."

1.5 year after the construction started, well, we know what happened...